Masters & Dynamic's latest Bluetooth headphones, the on-ear MW50, feature a classic design executed with luxurious materials that help justify their $449 price. The real justification of the cost, however, is their excellent audio performance. Booming bass lovers can stop reading now—these are wireless headphones for music lovers seeking accuracy and clarity without sacrificing low frequency response completely. They are also quite comfortable. The MW50 join a crowded field of high-priced winners, however, so it's worth comparing them with other top models to determine which sound signature and fit are most suited to your tastes. And it must be said that many of the competing models, some of which also feature quite luxurious designs, cost significantly less.

Design

Master & Dynamic continues its commitment to insanely luxurious materials and classic design with the supra-aural (on-ear) MW50. Available in either black or light brown leather, both models have silver metallic accents. The headband even features two different types of leather—grain leather up top and soft lambskin for the interior—in addition to generously cushioned Memory Foam earpads. As you might guess, this all adds up to a handsome design that feels exceptionally comfortable, even during long listening periods. The headband features rather stiff adjusters, but this seems intentional, as it allows for a more precise and secure fit, as the sliders don't feel loose enough to adjust or slip on their own.

Inside each earcup, 40mm Beryllium Diaphragm drivers deliver the audio. The left earcup's outer panel houses the power/pairing switch, the phone mics, and a 3.5mm jack for wired, passive listening. The cable is included, but it lacks an inline remote control. Thus, when the cable is connected, you need to unplug it to take calls, or use the headphones for audio but bring the phone to your mouth to use its mic—not the most graceful set up, and one you shouldn't have to contemplate for $450.

Along the right earcup's outer panel, there are three buttons. One is a central multifunction button that controls playback and call management. In a rare move, there are two ways to skip tracks—double-tapping the central button will advance a track forward, or you can hold the plus or minus buttons down for two seconds to move forward or backward. The plus and minus buttons, if simply tapped, adjust the volume, and these levels work in conjunction with your mobile device's master volume levels. We're not big fans of combining the track navigation control in the volume buttons—it can too easily lead to accidentally skipped tracks, though Master & Dynamic is hardly the only company to use this control scheme.

The micro USB port for charging is also located on the outer panel of the right earcup. Both included cables for audio and charging have an attractive white cloth lining similar to an athletic shoelace. A machined aluminum antenna, which Master & Dynamic claims offers best-in-class Bluetooth range (up to three times the typical 32 feet), is built into the outer panels of the earcups. We did indeed manage to keep the MW50 paired to an iPhone 6s well beyond the typical 30-some feet, but keep in mind that doors, walls, and windows will limit your range no matter what.

Master & Dynamic estimates battery life to be approximately 16 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels. Keep in mind, the cable being connected doesn't kill the Bluetooth connection with your device, unless it's also connected to your device. In other words, you can plug the cable into the headphones without ever connecting the cable to your phone, but if you look at your phone, you'll see the MW50 remains paired. The only way to positively kill the connection is to make sure the power is switched off. [Update: Matser & Dynamic claims this was a bug with early models that has since been resolved, and currently on-sale MW50 models should indeed unpair/power down when the cable is connected.]

The headphones also ship with a small, classy leather carrying case designed for the cables, and a black canvas tote they fold down flat into.

Performance

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver powerful bass response that doesn't seem to exaggerate the lows too much, nor do things sound thin. At top, unwise listening levels, there's no distortion on this challenging track, as should be expected in this price range. At moderate levels, you still have a hefty bass response matched well with high-mid and high frequency presence.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better idea of the general sound signature. Many headphones with heavy bass boosting can transform the drums on this track into a thunderous, unnatural onslaught, but here they are delivered quite accurately. They don't sound thin or weak, but there is little in their delivery that suggests booming low end. The most prominent force in the mix is Callahan's baritone vocal performance, which gets a solid low-mid, rich presence wonderfully complemented by high-mid presence that lends it some crackle and treble edge. The guitar strums and percussive hits have a bright, snappy presence. We wouldn't really call this a flat response style sound signature—there is some sculpting here and there—but the lows are only subtly boosted and the highs seem sculpted tastefully to bring out the contour and clarity of the mix.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives plenty of high-mid presence, allowing the sharpness of its attack to slice through the multilayered mix with force. The loop also gets a fair amount of low frequency presence, lending it some thump. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat lack the depth of a subwoofer-like response you might hear in many competing, bass-heavy models. In other words, the headphones focus on clarity, not mega bass—if super-deep lows are your thing, you'll want to look elsewhere.

On orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the lower register instrumentation receives a decent amount of richness in the lows and low-mids, but you wouldn't call it a bass-boosted sound, really. The high-mids and highs are far more prominent, keeping the spotlight firmly on the higher register strings, brass, and vocals. Overall, this is a crisp, clear, and accurate sound signature—it's not bereft of bass, but it's not peddling it in bulk, either.

Conclusions

If boosted lows are what you're after in a pair of higher-end Bluetooth headphones, the Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless and the Sennheiser PXC 550 both have more boom than the MW50, and the latter pair includes quality noise cancellation. If all of these models are beyond your budget, there are plenty of excellent, less expensive Bluetooth headphones. We're big fans of the Klipsch Reference On-Ear Bluetooth and the Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless. For $450, Master & Dynamic delivers sonic clarity in a handsome design with the MW50. Whether you will prefer this crisper sound signature to the deeper bass presence of the Bowers & Wilkins P7 Wireless comes down to personal taste, but either way, the MW50 headphones are a strong option.